Meru brings out the other benefits of 'hand-waving'

Meru Cabs has rolled out its first nationwide marketing campaign. Conceptualised by Enormous, the film has a tagline ‘Ab Haath Na Hilao, Bas App Dabao’ highlighting the ease of booking a cab through its application.

 

The film is based on the most common way a commuter looks to hail a cab - by waving a right hand. It brings out the other uses of the hand movement which include feeding a dog, playing basketball, conducting a puppet show, playing the piano and more. It ends with a voice over asking one to download the Meru Cab app and urges one to stop waving the hand to book cabs.

 

Rathin Lahiri CMO, Meru Cabs, said, “As pioneers in the radio cabs industry, Meru was the first player to address barriers in the category to providing consumers a reliable travel experience. Realising the everyday challenges commuters face by having to haplessly waving their hands, Meru strives to own this universal insight by highlighting the stress free and reliable journey consumers can get through the Meru cabs app.”

 

Ashish Khanzanchi, managing partner, Enormous Brands, said, “Meru needed to expand the category by addressing the pain points that exist in the service delivery of the unorganised market. The very familiar and oft seen ritual of a hapless customer trying to hail a cab was the observation that we structured the communication on. After seeing the commercial, anyone on the road flailing his arms for a cab would promptly remember exactly what he/she should do. Which is switch to the app. Since the idea was a flapping the hand, we decided to give the commercial a strict economy of movement. Almost static frames with the protagonist staring at the camera, so the effect of waving the hand would be isolated and amplified. This in turn also gives the Meru Cabs commercial a quirky and memorable execution.” 

 

The film went on-air on 10 February 2015. The TVC is supported with a radio, social media and outdoor campaign with ad creatives on 1300 Meru cabs across Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Jaipur.

 

Credits;

Client: Meru Cabs

Agency: Enormous Brands

Managing partner: Ashish Khazanchi, Ajay Verma 

Creative: Ashish Khazanchi, RakhaKrishnan O.R., Rajaram Kavatkar 
Account management: Ajay Verma, Prerna jetley

Director: Kaushik Sirkar

Production house: Apostrophe Films